Movement Picks Up For Swaraj Maidan In Vijayawada

People from all walks of life, including all political parties except the ruling combine, have decided to protest in order to protect the historical Swaraj Maidan, the lung space for Vijayawada city.

Amaravati: As the government proposes to hand over the historical Swaraj Maidan, the public place in the city, to a China company for developing it into a City Square, people of cross sections of the society have decided to oppose the move. They have decided to hold a protest on June 9 to register their opposition and their resentment to the proposal.

Speaking at a round table meet organized by the Vijayawada Tax Payers Association, former minister and former MP, Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao, came down heavily on the government for taking away the historical ground from the people of the city and giving it to a foreign company. He said that the people were against the proposal and they want the ground to be left for the public use. It was not right on the part of the government to take away the land from the people and give it to a private company to make money out of it. He said that the ground had long history of hosting several important political meetings even during the freedom movement. The ground was also being used for exhibitions for entertainment and education through book exhibition for more than 25 years, he said and wanted the government to leave it to the people for their use.

He said that the government would face humiliating defeat if the ground is privatized against the wishes of the people. He said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would face defeat if he continued to ignore peoples’ opinion and tried to hand over the ground to the China company. He made an appeal to the people of the city to raise their voice against privatization of the ground and ensure that the government withdrew the proposal.

Former MLAs and Congress leader Malladi Vishnu and YSRCP leader Vellampalli Srinivas, who attended the meeting condemned the State government’s move to privatise the popular public open space. They took exception to the government for preventing people from using the ground.